Teachers unions have long wielded enormous power in the political arena, capitalizing on their numbers as well as their organizational expertise to support candidates and positions on issues that they believe will benefit their members. And for just as long, political conservatives have complained that the unions chose only to marshal their forces in support of liberal causes and Democratic candidates.

President Bush preserved his perfect veto record when the Senate Thursday sustained his rejection of a bill that would have permitted 3 million federal employees to participate in partisan political activity during off-duty hours. Senators seeking to override Bush's veto fell two votes short of the required two-thirds majority. Three Republicans who had voted for the bill a month ago switched sides to support the White House position.

A sudden push by Republican lawmakers to curtail lobbying and other political activities by nonprofit organizations is sending shock waves through the ranks of such organizations as the American Red Cross and United Way. Representatives of several nonprofit groups said Friday that they were surprised at how quickly the House approved legislation to impose sweeping new restrictions on all organizations and institutions that receive federal grant money. Freshman Rep. David M. McIntosh (R-Ind.

When Ronald Reagan campaigned in Orange County for reelection in 1984, he sent buses to Leisure World in Laguna Hills so his faithful supporters there could be sure to attend. And when Leisure World celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 1988, then-Senate candidate Pete Wilson led the community's parade. If it were a city, Leisure World would be one of Orange County's smallest. But in terms of political clout, it is one of the state's most concentrated pockets of activism.

"They say that films are hard to come by when women are at a certain age," Liv Ullmann says, "But it doesn't seem so. I have a fantastic time." In her new film, "The Rose Garden," which opens Friday at the Goldwyn Westside Pavilion, Ullmann plays a German lawyer taking on the apparently hopeless case of a concentration camp survivor who has attacked and tried to kill an elderly man in the Hamburg airport.

A New York federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act that opponents contend could subject them to indefinite military detention for political activism, news reporting or other 1st Amendment activities. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan ruled Wednesday in favor of a group of writers and activists who sued President Obama, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and the Defense Department. Obama signed the bill into law Dec. 31. The complaint was filed Jan. 13 by a group including former New York Times reporter Christopher Hedges.

Kirsten Brydum pedaled away from the Howlin' Wolf club into the darkness of another American city that she didn't know very well. It was 1:30 a.m. She rode a black cruiser bicycle with a basket on the back, borrowed from friends of friends. In nearly every city she had visited on her 2-month-road trip, it seemed someone was willing to lend her an old bike. The Rebirth Brass Band was on the bill that night. Brydum, 25, had danced for a while outside the club in her flip-flops.

It wasn't that plucky 9-year-old Kevin Kee wanted to take on a $17-million ice pop company. He just wanted to save his favorite flavor from the Big Freezer in the sky. National Pax Corp., the makers of Otter Pops ice pops, had decided to drop Sir Isaac Lime for a new flavor, Scarlett O'Cherry. Each of the Otter Pops flavors is named for a character, whose picture appears on the wrapper.

Ida Ballasiotes' first thought, upon hearing the criminal history of the man who'd raped and killed her daughter, came in the form of a question. What was this guy doing out of jail? she wondered. After all, the authorities had known Gene Raymond Kane was dangerous. He'd attacked two other women 13 years before, and he'd been sitting in prison ever since. He'd received no treatment during that time, mainly because a mental hospital considered him too dangerous to handle.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony did not rise to archbishop of Los Angeles--where Mass is celebrated every Sunday in 42 languages and the Roman Catholic flock grows by 1,000 each week--at the age of 49 without arousing suspicions, bruising egos and making enemies. It is a lesson Mahony learned early on.